Sunday, February 2, 2014

Rahul Gandhi: Simpleton or Sawant???

This appeared in Sunday Times today...

The AG-RG faceoff: Naani ki Yaad Aa Gayee

Simpleton or Savant? You decide!!!

So… shall we say dumb is the new brilliant???
Frankly speaking, ‘those’ revealing 80 minutes last week stumped the nation in
more ways than one. Arnab Goswami,the country’s conscience-keeper, was at his
avuncular best when he spoke to the man who would be PM , like a kindly uncleji dealing with a
simple minded nephew.Not bad as
interview strategies go. A rope was given. It was gratefully grabbed. And the
public hanging was complete. Rahul Gandhi broke several protective, motherly
hearts (mine included), as he blindly rushed towards a point of no return,
watched by a billion jeering people. The noose was tightened pretty early, but
our sweet, trusting Rahul Baba didn’t realize what was happening till it was
too late and he was left sweating at the gallows by an uncharacteristically
calm interrogator-assassin. Without getting into ‘specifics’ ( sorry, Arnab!) of
the lethal interview, let it be asked what made Rahul Gandhi take this self-destructive
step in the first place? There are theories galore (“ He has nothing to lose…he knows it’s all
over for the Congress.”). But Rahul- watchers remain baffled . The thing is,
this was a seminal interview. One assumes there was no death wish
involved. Someone obviously talked Rahul
into exposing himself on prime time television. Who is that someone? Off with
his head! Can’t possibly be a friend or well-wisher. Once Rahul put his foot
into it, he was stuck! Worse, he promptly forgot the script and mangled his
lines.But let’s be fair and give him some brownie points for actually finishing
the interview and not running away, unlike India’s top orator and Rahul’s chief
rival – Narendra Modi.Unfortunately, this interview is likely to haunt Rahul
Gandhi for the rest of his life.

Since then, there have been countless
attempts by Rahul baiters, haters, and rabid critics to dance on his grave and
kiss him a quick goodbye. But what is far more interesting is the attempt by
minders and admirers to provide an entirely different spin to the disaster. It
has been suggested that Rahul Gandhi is NOT really dumb. He only sounds it! He actually fakes
stupidity! That’s how brilliant he is!! Why? Because that is a part of his
larger, grander design to woo his core electorate. This is how it goes : Rahul
was advised by some super brains in the party to submit himself to the Arnab barbeque and then go flat out to appear
daft. He was assured the nation was sick of listening to bombastic, old school netas
making tall claims and sounding insincere. Young India, they told Rahul, was
singularly unimpressed by crafty, nasty, oily politicians spouting clichés, and
pretending they had all the answers. Rahul had to create a different slot, even
if that meant making an absolute ass of
himself. His stubborn stone walling, is also being showcased as the master
stroke of the century. For, no matter what Arnab threw at Rahul, the answers
remained the same. This was no accident, insist his advisors. Rahul got the
better of an exasperated Arnab by frustrating him…. wearing him down…by coolly
repeating himself over and over again. Rahul, they now claim, effortlessly
managed to hammer home his message to those who matter the most in the next
election – the youth. Rahul also revealed his personal demons, confusions,
contradictions, fears, hopes, dreams, concerns, anxieties, vulnerabilities…even
his monumental ignorance! This, say his friends, made Rahul more relatable and
real. The idea was to project him as a sensitive, passionate seeker of a higher
truth, leaving lesser beings to grapple with ground level issues of leadership,
governance and other boring stuff. Gushed an acolyte, “How many leaders have
the guts to bare their souls on national television?” True. They have better
sense.

While the attempts to intellectualise /
contextualize his responses (an absurd face- saving device!) go on, an entire
RG industry has sprung up online. People who are being kind to Rahul, have been
offering excuses and trying in vain to deconstruct those cringe- making gaffes.
They are also providing a clever subtext
to the entire exercise. Hours have been invested searching for deeper, hidden
meanings, while analysing each empty utterance. These strenuous interpretations
are being dished out by those who would like to believe this was not a case of “ The Prince has no clothes”. Alas, the less charitable openly mock his
“Power is poison” refrain, pointing out how the Gandhi family had developed an
effective anti-dote to poison fifty years ago.

So what happens to Rahul Baba now? Will the wicked ‘system’ which he is very much
a part of, but likes to denounce, allow him to lick his wounds in peace and get
on with life? Or will the collective scorn of opponents force him to adopt ‘their’
ways and become ‘one of them’? A creature and creation of dynasty politics
himself, Rahul thought nothing of rubbishing the notion with a straight face.
Now, that requires ‘solid’ acting ! In many ways, and on several levels, Rahul
Gandhi paid rich and direct tributes to familiar Gandhi traditions. The nation
got a lump in its throat. Seriously - Naani ki yaad aayi.

One cannot blame Rahul but the CONgress for using him as a bali ka bakra for the party to stay united. Once the dynasty is gone, it'd be so nasty that the party full of overambitious netas will simply fall apart. @Daniel, it is savant. Sawant is a surname - Rakhi Sawant.

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